Patients are suffering as surgery is delayed at the Steve Biko Hospital due to yet another failure of the air conditioning in the operating theatres.
This is hugely distressing and endangers the lives of patients who need urgent surgery.
Scores of operations have been cancelled or deferred as temperatures in the theatres have risen higher than the 18 degrees Celsius that is needed to prevent infection.
Patients with broken bones are most affected by this air conditioning crisis, particularly the elderly who lack the resilience of younger patients.
This is not a new problem as the chillers in the theatres also failed last year.
The Democratic Alliance will continue to push for a wholesale revamp of maintenance in Gauteng public hospitals. It can be done with competent staff and high priority given to preventive maintenance that identifies and fixes equipment before catastrophic failure occurs.